Wool and whimsy in the frozen North.

Oh blog. I would apologize for being so long away, but frankly, you missed a HECK of a lot of angst and whining, and not much else.

So I’ll just say this: I’m back. And boy do I have news.

News Item #1:

Cory got a new job. Not another part time job, not another food service job; a real, full-time, in his field JOB. It’s third shift (from whence stems much of the angst I mentioned- it’s mostly gone now), but he’s adapting really well and seems to be enjoying it. He’s working as a technician at a local bakery, maintaining and repairing the baking machines. It pays well- almost as much as I get paid!- and there’s a chance that amount will increase after a 90 day probationary period. It’s really sort of a dream come true for us. Our income has doubled, and he’s kick-starting his career. Plus? it’s 9 blocks from our apartment.

News Item #2:

Our cat, Simon, started acting really lethargic and weird about a week ago. We didn’t notice much, since he was sort of acting mad at us, so we didn’t start worrying until I noticed on Tuesday that he was getting extremely, and very suddenly, skinny. He’s always been a big cat, so combined with the lethargy I was really worried.

It turns out he has fatty liver disease. Apparently, when we switched food a while back, he didn’t like it at all. We have two cats and they share a free-feeder dish, so we had no idea he wasn’t eating anything (ANYTHING) for two weeks (yes, I do feel horrible and guilty, why do you ask?). Because he’d been overweight, his body turned to his fat supply for energy, but cat livers aren’t built to process that much fat… so his liver cells started getting taken over by fat. The result? A very skinny, lethargic, jaundiced kitty who refuses to eat or drink. In other words, BAD NEWS.

We took him to the vet, of course, as soon as we could. He’s on a prescription diet (that we’re having to force feed him… it’s terrible, but you do what you have to do) and antibiotics, in case he has a secondary infection. We’re not sure there’s been much progress yet, if any, but he did at least spend part of the night on the windowsill (his favorite spot when he’s healthy) instead of spending all night on a placemat under the table, last night, so that’s something. We are optimistic about this, and hoping he’ll make a quick recovery.

So, the combination of those things made for a very, very angsty me- whether it was about the cat, about having my husband be sleeping most of the time that I’m home and awake, or about money (vets ain’t cheap, people). Today, however, I got up early when Cory got home and we did some yoga together. We fed Simon, who seemed slightly more energetic than previously. I got paid, and did some errands on lunch, and… well, I just feel more normal, stable, and happy than I have in months.

I’ve been meaning to post since Sunday, when Janelle, Nicole, and I went down to Wisconsin to meet up with a friend of mine in La Crosse. It was a lovely time and we had lots of fun, but I keep forgetting my camera cord at home, and when I’m at home I just forget to upload them at all. It’s annoying, because every other camera I’ve owned just used a mini usb connector (and I keep an extra of those at work to charge my mp3 player), but this one does not. It’s a totally different sort of plug.

So, all I can give you is a promise to try to remember my cord tomorrow. And hopefully also some knitting, because I have also not had time in my mornings to get a project together to take to work at all this week. This is also completely my fault, as I have plenty of time to get something going in the evening, but of course I forget. Thus I have made utterly zero progress on my C*mas knitting recently, which is Bad and means I guess I won’t be doing NaKniSweMo this year. Oh well, I’ll have my own belated one in January or something.

On the plus side, my main is now level 80 in WoW. For those that don’t know, that’s currently the level cap. I’m not sure what I’m going to do now that I’m 80, to be honest… it’s been all about XP for the entire time I’ve played, so it’s bizarre to not have that goal anymore. I feel a bit like Inigo Montoya. There are lots of money-making things to do, though, and I still don’t have “fast flying” (it costs 5000 gold to train it, I have about 3000) so there’s that.

I’m sort of wishing I’d taken a day off this week. I was half-planning to take a half day this Friday and another one next week, but my boss (who does my job when I’m out) has this Friday off, so I can’t leave (well, I could, but that would leave T in charge of my job and she’s not very experienced so that wouldn’t be very nice… but I might anyway). Oh well, if I stay all day this Friday, I get next Friday off, so that will be nice when it comes.

Malabrigo has a reputation for being soft, warm, and beautifully vivid.

I would say these mittens live up to that standard.

They are done, and are they ever soft and warm. I adore them. This pattern (Breathe Deep) is excellent, by the way- highly recommended. Very fun to knit, interesting, and turns out just lovely. The cuff may well be my favorite ever.

So, what next? I’m probably going to work idly on those gloves whenever I have a minute of downtime in WoW, just to keep working on it without dying of boredom, but I’m thinking of also starting on that doll for my niece. I’m knitting Poppy, and I’m looking forward to it! Such a cute pattern, and Ysolda is a fabulous designer. I’m probably going to cast that on today, so with any luck I’ll have something to show you all in the next few days here.

Oh, right, by the way… that picture up there? Taken with my new camera! Yep, I finally got a replacement for ol’ Dory the Dead. My new camera is a Nikon Coolpix S570 in black, and his name is Havelock. His macro isn’t quite as good as Dory’s, but he has 12 megapixels and a better screen. Plus? much less likely to break. Just sayin’.